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The second edition of the fun and fascinating guide to the main ideas of the Austrian School of economics, written in sparkling prose especially for the non-economist. Gene Callahan shows that good economics isn't about government planning or statistical models. It's about human beings and the choices they make in the real world. This may be the most important book of its kind since Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson. Though written for the beginner, it has been justly praised by scholars too, including Israel Kirzner, Walter Block, and Peter Boettke.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gene Callahan is a software-technology professional in Connecticut, an adjunct scholar of the Mises Institute, and a commentator on economics issues in venues such as Marketplace and The Free Market. This is his first book.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Top customer reviews

This is a well-written, rather humorous synopsis of Austrian economics. I got the book because I had already read von Mises' Human Action twice and didn't want to slog through it again. Keep in mind that Austrians are logicians, not mathematicians. You won't find any equations in this book other than Fisher's, and even then the author didn't explain the velocity of circulation very well. We've had lots of "quantitative easing" the past few years but prices haven't risen much because the velocity of circulation is so low. Callahan says that the business cycle is caused by credit expansion and contraction, but he ignores reservoir transactions. Austrian economics is useful as a guide for policy decisions. But it's disdain for mathematical economics has prevented it from gaining more acceptance. My theoretical physics mentor, Dewey B. Larson, wrote two economics books in the vein of Hayek: The Road to Permanent Prosperity and The Road to Full Employment. However, they do contain simple equations! For example, the Fundamental Equation of Economics is P = B / V, where P = price, B = money purchasing power, and V = volume or quantity of the good or goods. This equation can be applied to a single good or a basket of goods or the entire production of a country, with appropriate summations. Austrian economics says that math cannot be applied to individual choice; this is true, but recall how physicists handle the situation with the motion of gas molecules: we don't describe the motion of a single molecule, we describe the effect of the motion of all the molecules, measured as temperature. So: equations can be applied to groups of people! Read Callahan's work and read von Mises' work of course, but realize that there are better economics books available.

This book emphasizes subjective valuation. Objective value, the Austrians contend, is an illusion. Nothing has economic value in and of itself; rather, "things are valuable because acting humans consider them to be so." (pg. 25)

Besides this emphasis on subjective valuation--not surprisingly--economists of the Austrian school see the individual human being as the alpha and the omega of economic phenomena. That is why Mr. Callahan cleverly decided to start this book with the scenario of a man stranded on an uninhabited island. To the Austrians--Ludwig von Mises in particular--this is the ideal setting to learn the basics since economics is rooted in purposeful human action. The lone man facing an uncertain future, saddled by the limitations the island presents and by his own limited knowledge and skills must somehow make do and survive. He must use the scarce resources available--his time and knowledge being the scarcest--and make wise economical choices if his goal is to survive long enough to be rescued. Every decision that he makes towards that end will involve trade-offs; he has to weigh the costs and benefits of every action and aim to profit from his effort. Callahan says that economics studies the consequences of choice, and his island scenario perfectly illustrates this; moreover, the choices taken in this economy of one lead to one of the clearest explanation I've ever read concerning marginal utility.

Because economics is rooted in human choice and value is subjective, Austrians see "Political solutions to questions of value..." as inimical to freedom and economic principles. Perhaps more important, this subjectivity of value ultimately means that "you're as wealthy as you think you are," and questions like, "Am I wealthier if I have more cash in the bank, or more time to spend with my children?" cannot be answered by government planners or by economists, but only by you.

Economics for Real People is an important book that deserves careful study and a wide audience.

Too many words, too few information. Despite the good intentions of the author, this book is full of silly examples that doesn't help to understand the main concepts of the Austrian school of economics: tv shows, boiled rats (which is an awful and tasteless case of study), supposedly famous people (I never heard about). After reading the 336 pages of this book, you get may be less information than an article of the Wikipedia, which you can read in 15 minutes. If you are interested in the Austrian school, I sincerely recommend you to read the original sources: Human Action by Ludwig von Mises, The origins of money (Carl Menger), Principles of Economy also by Carl Menger (when available in Amazon, soon I hope ). Just think in Austrian school economic terms: the time it takes you to read the 336 pages of this book, could be a better invest reading one of the original sources.